If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise – DVD Review

In 2004, I had the dubious honour of witnessing the horrendous destructive power of a hurricane first hand when Hurricane Juan steamed up the Atlantic coast and slammed into my hometown of Halifax. Barely a Category Two when it made landfall, Juan still had enough fury to cause the deaths of four people, wreak millions worth of damage and render much of Nova Scotia powerless for a week or longer. Falling trees and flying debris caused extensive damage to homes, including my own, and left most roads impassible. Life in the city ground to a halt as citizens, emergency services and even military personal chipped in to clear debris clogged streets and storm ravaged coastline. It was a stunning and unforgettable display of nature's unrelenting power and how feeble our supposed mastery of the elements truly is. But Halifax got off lucky, the Gulf Coast did not. A year later Hurricane Katrina, a Category Five monster of a storm with winds twice as powerful as Juan's, savaged the region. It killed 1,836, caused over eighty billion in damages and scattered thousands of Gulf Coast residents throughout the United States. Lives were ruined and many who were exiled by the storm have been unable to return. New Orleans, a city bellow sea level at the head waters of the mighty Mississippi, was battered by Katrina's storm surge. It's crumbling levees faltered and flooded eighty percent of the city for weeks.

A two part follow-up to Spike Lee's epic four part HBO documentary When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts, which chronicled the events preceding, during and immediately after the storm, If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don't Rise is the story of what those deadly waters left behind when they receded. A nearly post apocalyptic landscape. A citizenry which struggles everyday with the enormity of their loss. There were also the opportunists, eager to redevelop the poorer neighbourhoods into “mixed income” communities. Not to mention the four separate governments who struggled against the aftermath of the crisis. As well as their own incompetence. An epic, multifaceted tragedy played out for Spike Lee's expertly placed camera. Spike Lee has a reputation for being a polemic filmmaker and no question this film is heavily biased in favour of the poorer residents of New Orleans. Most of whom are African-American. But in all honesty it's hard not to. Spike Lee does the smartest thing a filmmaker could in a situation as sensitive as this. He steps out of the way and lets everyone speak for themselves. No clumsy narration or director insertion. Merely the people who were or are still involved.

To Lee's credit he is actually fairly even handed in his interview subjects. Several of the most reviled figures involved in post Katrina controversies, like FEMA head-honcho Michael “Brownie” Brown, get a chance to defend themselves. Brown in particular comes across as fairly sympathetic when you hear his side of the story. But it's no secret to where the director's sympathies lie. Though not without good reason, as the documentary points out in painstaking detail. The lower income residents of New Orleans, many of whom were forced out by the storm, got royally shafted at every turn. Rents were hiked up astronomically. Their schools were left to rot while the city pushes for the privatization of education. Likewise the only hospital providing affordable and reliable healthcare to these communities are shuttered. As are their former homes. All the while people are breaking down at random because they can't escape their despair. It got so bad that the NOPD were forced to create a special unit to respond to mental health related incidents. Police therapists talking despondent survivors out of shooting themselves. It is truly heartbreaking.

Then it gets unimaginably worse. Just as the Gulf Coast is pulling itself slowly together and is celebrating a New Orleans Saints Superbowl victory, the Deepwater Horizon explodes and the BP oil spill unleashes one of the worst environmental catastrophes in history. Spike Lee fluidly transitions between the two disasters all the while cleverly linking them. This feat is made possible by the running time. Which is lengthy at 255 minutes. However Lee's masterfully edited B-Roll and the stunning diversity of interview subjects makes the documentary consistently compelling. You simply don't feel the length. The expertly chosen soundtrack also played a big part in giving If God Is Willing a sense of atmosphere. Blending the sounds of New Orleans with smooth, sorrowful Jazz.

Lee is so convincing in his presentation that if you don't feel something for the people of this city, then you're quite possibly a robot. Lee also makes a convincing argument against the various redevelopment plans attempting to gentrify much of New Orleans' traditionally working class communities . Expertly making his point through a combination of undeniable facts and subtle emotional manipulation. Exactly the qualities which make an excellent documentary.

Final Verdict: An engaging, enraging and gut-wrenching documentary epic.

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BUFFY IS BACK!
We are extremely excited & honoured to be welcoming back the incomparable Buffy Sainte-Marie to The Aeolian on Sunday, November 18th & Monday, November 19th!
“Putting the songs to

Event Details

BUFFY IS BACK!

We are extremely excited & honoured to be welcoming back the incomparable Buffy Sainte-Marie to The Aeolian on Sunday, November 18th & Monday, November 19th!

“Putting the songs to work.”

Buffy Sainte-Marie is touring constantly, and coming off her critically acclaimed, award-winning 2015 album Power in the Blood, nobody could ever accuse the Academy Award-winning songwriter of taking it easy. Since her groundbreaking debut, 1964’s It’s My Way!, the Cree singer-songwriter has been a trailblazer and a tireless advocate, an innovative artist, and a disruptor of the status quo.

Sainte-Marie has spent her whole life creating, and her artistry, humanitarian efforts, and Indigenous leadership have made her a unique force in the music industry. In 1969, she made one of the world’s first electronic vocal albums; in 1982 she became the only Indigenous person to win an Oscar; she spent five years on Sesame Street where she became the first woman to breastfeed on national television. She’s been blacklisted and silenced. She’s written pop standards sung and recorded by the likes of Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, Donovan, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. She penned “Universal Soldier,” the definitive anti-war anthem of the 20th century. She is an icon who keeps one foot firmly planted on both sides of the North American border, in the unsurrendered territories that comprise Canada and the USA.

The nineteen songs in this collection are about the environment, alternative conflict resolution, Indigenous realities, greed, and racketeering. It features a brand new politically charged rocker, “The War Racket,” that slinks and pounds as Sainte-Marie sing-speaks wisdom like, “You pretend it’s religion, like there’s no one to blame/ for the dead and impoverished in your little patriot game.” There are new recordings of some of the most insightful songs Buffy’s ever written, like the decades-spanning, rock ’n’ roll reportage “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” or the first powwow rock song, “Starwalker,” an anthemic celebration of Indigenous leadership. There are timeless protest classics like “Universal Soldier,” “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone,” and

“Little Wheel Spin and Spin,” as well as forgotten gems that were simply ahead of their time when first released, like the shimmery, eye-opening “Priests of the Golden Bull,” and the chillingly prescient “Disinformation.”

But this isn’t an album of just protest songs.

“Protest songs are good, they’re important, and they talk about a problem,” Sainte-Marie says. “But there are other activist songs which don’t have a label, but they can enlighten and liberate, inform, motivate or otherwise encourage solutions.” ‘Carry It On’ is like that. So is ‘You Got to Run,’ another new rocker and collaboration with acclaimed experimental vocalist Tanya Tagaq. ‘You Got To Run’ might be championing a marathon runner or an election candidate, charging through self-doubt to the real victory beyond the win.

Sainte-Marie doesn’t sugarcoat the truth, nor does she shy away from hard realities, but Medicine Songs is never overwhelming or oppressive. Rather than making us feel smaller, sadder or more cynical, Buffy Sainte-Marie makes us feel stronger and more capable of seeing the world around us clearly. Part rhythmic healing, part trumpeting wakeup call, Medicine Songs is the soundtrack for the resistance.

Location

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Global comedy superstar Russell Peters is thrilled to announce he will adding new Canadian dates in his return to his home and native land as part of his brand new

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Global comedy superstar Russell Peters is thrilled to announce he will adding new Canadian dates in his return to his home and native land as part of his brand new Deported World Tour this fall. He will be making a tour stop at The Aud on Monday, November 19, 2018.

The Emmy®, Gemini® and Peabody® award winning comic will perform a limited fifteen market arena tour bringing his unique and sometimes controversial brand of humor home once again. Peters’ new show features all new material including plenty of Russell’s signature audience interactions.

Tickets on sale now! Get your tickets: http://bit.ly/2yxjtQO

Ticket prices range from $55 – $105

Seating chart: http://bit.ly/2EAM5xU

Read more: http://bit.ly/2pj469D

Check out the rest of Russell Peters’ tour: www.russellpeters.com

Check out what’s on at The Aud: http://bit.ly/2Dyg0X6

View all events that are coming up in Kitchener: www.facebook.com/cityofkitchener/events

Time

(Monday) 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Location

The Aud

400 East Avenue

A Tribe Called Red - KitchenerCentre In The Square101 Queen Street North

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Producing an unbelievably unique sound, A Tribe Called Red, Group of the Year at the 2018 JUNO Awards, mixes traditional pow wow vocals and drumming with cutting-edge electronic music to

Event Details

Producing an unbelievably unique sound, A Tribe Called Red, Group of the Year at the 2018 JUNO Awards, mixes traditional pow wow vocals and drumming with cutting-edge electronic music to celebrate their Aboriginal culture in an open, wild party OnStage.

Bursting forth from Canada’s capital, native Producer and DJ crew A Tribe Called Red is making an impact on the global electronic scene with a truly unique sound.

The crew has performed high profile festival dates at Coachella, Bonnaroo, AfroPunk, Osheaga, and New Orleans Jazz Fest to list a few. In 2014, they garnered mainstream recognition when the band became the first Indigenous group to win the Breakthrough Group of the Year award at the Juno Awards (Canada’s Grammys). ATCR was also long-listed for Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize in 2012 and 2013 and its debut album was included in the Washington Post’s top 10 albums of that same year.

A Tribe Called Red promotes inclusivity, empathy and acceptance amongst all races and genders in the name of social justice. They believe that indigenous people need to define their identity on their own terms. If you share this vision, then you are already part of the Halluci Nation.

$1 from each ticket will be donated to the Gord Downie & Charlie Wenjack Fund. The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF) is part of Gord Downie’s legacy and embodies his commitment, and that of both the Downie and Wenjack families, to call Canadians to learning and action in solidarity with Indigenous peoples of this land. The goal of the fund is to continue the conversation that began with Chanie Wenjack’s residential school story, and to support the reconciliation process through awareness, education, and action.